White Hill is NOT the highest point in Nova Scotia!

A bit of a quick post today and one I didn’t even plan until I woke up this morning and hopped on Instagram. Apparently this “revelation” has been known for a year or so (I just don’t keep tabs on Peakbagger, oops).

As of 2024 and confirmed in June 2025, White Hill is not the highest point in Nova Scotia. That distinction belongs to Western Barren, situated about 17km to the southwest and is, according to Eric Gilbertson (who surveyed both White Hill and Western Barren in June 2025), easier to access. Eric used two differential GPS units to measure both peaks on June 17-18, 2025 and confirmed that Western Barren is ~531.32 meters high and White Hill is ~529.73 meters high, roughly 1.59 meters shorter. Check out Eric’s Instagram here for more details on the survey; he’s done lots of great work surveying peaks in the PNW like Mount Rainier (last fall he confirmed that Columbia Crest is not the true summit) in the last couple of years.

In addition, I have reviewed my GPS data and photos, and compared those from others, and have concluded that I didn’t even hit the true summit of White Hill when I visited in September 2022. It appears that I stopped just northeast of the true summit, and passed it to the east as I was leaving the plateau to bushwhack back to the trail. Several Peakbagger users have commented that the first humps of rock (likely where I stopped) were not the summit. Makes losing my camera a bit of a harder pill to swallow, but won’t take away from the fact that this was one of the most gnarly single day trips I’ve ever experienced. I definitely feel I was a bit out of my element on this trip and I’ve definitely improved a lot in backcountry travel and navigation, so I’ll chalk this error up to inexperience.

What does this mean for my high points list? It means that I am actually at 5 of 12 completed and I will need to return to Cape Breton Island to visit Western Barren. It should be noted that those who completed the full set of the “original” Canadian high points will still get credit for White Hill due to grandfathering, and it appears those who are still working on their lists will have to visit Western Barren. Because I didn’t even reach the proper summit of White Hill anyway, it’s a no brainer to add Western Barren to my list. Hopefully no cameras will be lost next time.

I hope to get back out there this year. Stay tuned!